Brand On The Run: The Launch Of Ivy-Inspired Tracksmith

July 23, 2014

This morning a small new collection called Tracksmith launched. It’s the first thing in a long time we’ve felt should be categorized under Ivy Trendwatch. The founder, Matt Taylor, you see, is a Yale grad and the Ivy League is referenced as a style wellspring in the running-wear company’s marketing material. For example:

Tracksmith offers premium performance running apparel rooted in the running culture, sartorial style and timeless values of New England. We create versatile and uncompromising products that fuse Ivy League style, classic American design and high-performance fabrics.

This top comes with a price tag of $65.

While this short goes for $90:

Its description reads:

Inspired by training runs along the bustling banks of the Charles River, dividing the understated Brahmin sophistication of Boston from the storied academia and innovation of Cambridge, the Longfellow short is equal parts technical and tasteful.

Finally, Tracksmith’s lookbook includes this quote:

Though deeply immersed in the business of running, Matt was frustrated with the slow pace of the industry, its cheaply-made products, and the “everyone gets a medal” mentality that diminished the reverence for elite achievement.

Of course, just as everyone gets a medal these days, every brand gets a mascot. Tracksmith’s is a hare:

… which is certainly savvier for a running brand than a tortoise. Except that the hare lost. — CC

I am with J.D. on this. I think this is a really interesting and fun concept. As a runner and fan of Ivy style, I am generally left wanting when it comes to running gear that isn’t overly teched-out. So many of the schleppers I see on my morning jog are doused in neon colors, with tricked out jackets and shorts, with all sorts of heart rate monitors and iPods strapped on their bodies. Clean, elegant, running clothes with a nod towards classic Ivy? Count me in!

I’d love to pick up some Ivy styled running clothes but then someone may expect me to exercise.

@JCC
I can only imagine the luxury of working out in BB. That tracksuit actually looks very nice and, beyond the polo shirt, not at all dated (though I think the safari shirt places the ad in the 70s).

Indeed. Sport is probably the single-biggest influence on the Ivy League Look. More on that when we get to a post on Deirdre Clemente’s new book “Dress Casual,” about how college students transformed the way America gets dressed.

At the risk of being in the minority, I think the clothes are smart looking, and the website is beautifully designed. I just ordered a shirt and shorts. The company looks like a promising startup. Dare I say they’ve hit the ground running?

To touch on the sportswear as casual wear topic, I daresay today’s college students (especially from the upper- and upper-middle-class) are causing an intriguingly parallel trend to that of the 1960s. On a college campus, you’ll see plenty of soccer pants, yoga pants (a trend unfortunately not exclusive to women), and countless athletic shirts worn under Northface jackets and Patagonia fleeces. This generation has turned clothing designed as activewear into day-to-day gear. Unfortunately, I don’t think the polyester armor of today’s youth is nearly as respectable as during the Ivy heyday, but the spirit is quite similar.

My order just arrived, and the T-shirt and shorts look terrific. They are obviously well made and have several nice details, including the shorts’ rear center pocket for an iPhone or iPod. If I could post a picture here I would, if only for the sake of the packaging. Both items were wrapped in blue tissue paper dotted with the rabbit logo in gold, all looking very smart.

I discovered Tracksmith through Ivy Style. Despite the negative comments others have posted, I think the company and its clothes are worth a look.

Two comments on the comments: (1) Thank you to Ed Appleby for the reference to the sculpture “The Dying Gaul.” (2) Marketing copy is often an easy target, but it’s worth pointing out that the reference to “understated Brahmin sophistication” was not to the clothes themselves but to the region that inspired them. This come under the heading “Technical and tasteful.” Not many items of athletic attire can achieve this balance, or even attempt to do so. The company has done good job defining itself, even if some of Ivy Style’s readers aren’t buying it.